


warm blood

by bearpantaloons



Series: warm blood [1]
Category: Orphan Black (TV)
Genre: F/F, Multi, Wilderness Survival, by somewhat popular demand, meet-cute on a mountain
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-16
Updated: 2018-12-12
Packaged: 2019-08-24 06:58:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 15,861
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16635104
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bearpantaloons/pseuds/bearpantaloons
Summary: On their way to France, Cosima and Delphine's plane crashes in the middle of the Canadian wilderness, where they will need to lean on each other to survive.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Well, you guys should know by now that I have zero patience, so I'm posting this a couple days early. I gave you good folks some options for my next fic after [Under the Stars](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16247750/chapters/37986311) and survival/plane crash won, so here we go. I used _The Mountain Between Us_ as a guideline.
> 
> Let me know if this is something that you'd want to continue reading. It's about 5 chapters, so not too long, which means I'll need more suggestions for what comes after this one.

Cosima was late. Again. She ran through the sliding doors of the air terminal and stood in line, impatiently shifting her weight and looking toward the front of the line. There were three people in front of her and they were all taking their sweet time. She noticed a woman standing at the front desk, waving her hands in the air in an animated fashion, looking very distressed, while the terminal employee attempted to calm her.

She could barely hear what was being said, but it sounded like the woman’s flight was cancelled and she needed to get the next one as soon as possible, but there weren’t any more flights available until the next day. Cosima started getting nervous. Was her flight cancelled, too? She was supposed to meet Alison, Sarah, and Felix in Paris to prepare for her proposal. Her girlfriend, Shay, was already there on a family vacation, so it would work out perfectly. When she finally got to the front of the line, the woman behind the counter waved her over.

“Cosima Niehaus. I have a flight to Paris.” She pulled out her passport and booking number, which the woman took and typed some things into her keyboard. Her eyes wandered to the blonde woman who was arguing with the employee, but she had switched to arguing in French, so Cosima couldn’t understand what was being said. The woman behind her desk interrupted her eavesdropping by sliding her passport back across the counter.

“I am so very sorry, Ms. Niehaus, but the flights into Paris have been cancelled due to the weather. If you’d like, we can arrange a new flight for you first thing in the morning.”

“Uh, listen, I really need to get on a plane tonight. I’m going to propose to my girlfriend.”

The attendant smiled apologetically. “Congratulations, but I’m sorry, there are no more available flights leaving today due to the weather delay. We can compensate you or book your next flight for you.”

Cosima grabbed her passport in a huff and left the counter, trying to escape the frustratingly polite woman. She looked behind her and the blonde woman who was at the next station over was gone. She reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone and stepped outside, away from the noise. As she walked out into the brisk winter air, she spotted the blonde woman from before sitting on a bench, chain smoking cigarettes. Cosima did her best not to stare, but it was really hard not to. The woman was really beautiful. She called Sarah and told her what was going on and the best the airline could do was put her on a plane the next morning. Sarah tried to talk her down and tell her that it wasn’t the end of the world, but Cosima had been planning everything for the past two months.

“Cos, stop panicking, yeah? Call S and see if she can help. She probably knows a pilot or something who can help.”

“Yeah, okay,” she replied, and coughed into the crook of her elbow, holding the phone away from her mouth.

“That cough still not getting better?” Sarah asked.

“It’s just a cold,” Cosima answered. “It’ll probably go away within a week.”

 “All right, well, let us know when you’re in the air and when we need to pick you up.”

Cosima thanked her and immediately called Mrs. S, who had helped her orchestrate her proposal with a plane writing in the sky and a whole dance troupe who would flash mob them in front of the Eiffel Tower. Mrs. S told her that she did have a friend who could fly her out, but she would have to leave as soon as possible, because the weather was indeed getting worse. Cosima thanked her profusely and took one more look at the blonde sitting on the bench. She hesitated, but pushed herself forward to get the woman’s attention.

“Um, hi, I couldn’t help but overhear that you seem to be in the same situation as I am,” she said to the blonde woman. The woman turned her attention toward Cosima with a frown on her face as she took a drag from her cigarette.

“It would appear so,” she replied coldly, turning her head to face forward once more.

Cosima cleared her throat. “Well, I just got word that I can probably fly out of here today if I leave soon and there’s room for one more, if you want.”

The woman whipped her head around to look at Cosima, her features softening a little. “Really? What is the catch?”

Cosima shook her head. “No catch, just being a good Samaritan. Plus, I kind of also overheard that you’re this hotshot doctor who needs to get to Paris to perform some major procedure, right? I figure I can use all of the good karma points I can get.”

The woman scoffed. “Hardly a hotshot doctor, but I do need to get to Paris to administer some important treatments to patients.” She stood up and put out her cigarette. “My name is Delphine.”

“Cosima,” she replied with a big grin and they shook hands. “Anyway, the pilot should be meeting me out here to take me to the hangar.” A few minutes later, an elderly gentleman walked up to them and tipped his hat.

“Miss Niehaus? I’m Benjamin. Siobhan said you needed a plane.”

Cosima nodded. “Yes, and there’s an additional passenger now.” She gestured toward Delphine.

“Fine by me, just means Siobhan owes me more. Grab your bags and follow me. I can fly you as far as Newfoundland to catch a connecting flight.” Delphine put out her cigarette and picked up her luggage, following Cosima and Benjamin. They walked for a long while until they finally got to a hangar that held a tiny plane. Cosima gulped and was having second thoughts. The plane was really small and she already disliked flying. Benjamin threw their baggage into the back of the plane and opened the door for the two women to climb into. Delphine went in first and Cosima reluctantly followed. Benjamin tossed them large headsets, so they could talk with each other while they were in the air. Benjamin started the engine of the plane and it roared to life. Cosima held tightly onto anything that she could reach and waited for the plane to take off. She shut her eyes and refused to open them until the plan leveled out.

“Cosima?”

Cosima opened her eyes slightly. Delphine was looking at her, which didn’t help with her nerves. “Yeah, sorry, don’t like flying very much.” She glanced down at Delphine’s hand and noticed a wedding band around her finger. “You married?”

Delphine looked down at her hand and nodded. “Oui.” As she looked at the ring, Cosima noticed that Delphine was frowning and covered her ringed hand with her bare one.

“I’m proposing to my girlfriend,” Cosima said. “That’s why I was going to Paris. I know it’s cliché, but she was going to be there with her family, anyway, so I figured ‘what the hell,’ you know?”

“Félicitations,” Delphine replied and smiled at Cosima. “How long have you two been together?”

“Oh, wow, it’s been three years, I think. I met her when I first started working on my PhD, so yeah, that sounds about right. How long have you been married?”

Delphine furrowed her brow. “Almost a year,” she said. “We worked together.”

“Ah, work romance. Those can be tricky.”

Cosima went on to tell Delphine all about her PhD in evolutionary development and found out that Delphine was an immunologist working in Toronto. The procedures she was performing in France were experimental treatments for rare respiratory diseases found in identical siblings. Cosima was fascinated by the work Delphine did and found herself not even caring that they were stuck in a plane the size of a Mini Cooper.

After a few hours in the air, the plane started lurching and shaking. Benjamin told them there was nothing to worry about and it was just some turbulence. Cosima closed her eyes and gripped onto the edges of her seat until her knuckles turned white. She felt a hand on her arm and when she opened her eyes, she saw Delphine giving her a reassuring squeeze.

“The odds of dying in a plane crash are one in eleven million,” Benjamin said through the headset. “We’ll be fine.”

“Does that include planes that are basically sardine cans with wings?” Cosima asked sarcastically as the plane shook again. “Oh man, this wasn’t how I was supposed to die. I was supposed to go out in a blaze of glory, or a blaze of pot smoke, or something awesome. Not this.”

“We are not going to die, Cosima,” Delphine said. “You have a girlfriend to propose to and I have lives to save.”

Cosima snorted. “Yours sounds way more impressive.”  

“Non, marriage is a major event in a person’s life. You’re vowing to spend the rest of your life with one person. That’s pretty impressive.”

“I guess you’re right.”

“I usually am,” Delphine smirked. Cosima was about to contest the comment when the plane sank, causing her stomach to rise up to her throat. She tightened her seatbelt and held onto the armrests for dear life.

“Yo, Benjamin, you know you probably don’t get paid if I die, right?”

“Fear not, Miss Niehaus, we are almost out of it.” Benjamin said before speaking into his radio in a foreign language. The plane continued to rumble and Cosima felt like she was in a bartender’s shaker, her insides mixing together until she got poured into a glass and stuck with a toothpick with an olive at the end. She coughed into her hands.

“How can you be so calm?” she asked Delphine, who had her eyes closed as if she was trying to sleep.

Delphine opened her eyes. “I decided a while ago that I can’t control anything in my life, so this is just another thing I can’t control and there’s no use trying to force something to happen when it won’t.”

“That’s really bleak.”

Delphine shrugged. “It’s true. The more you want something, the more disappointed you’ll be when it doesn’t happen. I keep my expectations low.”

“So, if we die in this plane, you’re cool with that? This seems like such a weird stance for a doctor to have, especially when you’re actively curing this respiratory disease, rather than just accepting that it’s meant to happen and let it run its course.”

“Curing a disease and crashing in a plane are two very different things.”

“Are they, though? By your logic, having no control over your life means that every possible outcome is predetermined and there’s nothing that we can do to change it. It’s all up to fate, or whatever. But with medicine, people are developing cures and finding ways to extend life every day. People like you are actively changing the predetermined outcome of those who are sick and become sick naturally.”

“I suppose that’s true.”

“I thought you were always right, Doc,” Cosima said with a smirk.

“I said usually. There are very rare occasions when I allow cheeky Americans to be right. Their egos can be so fragile.”

Cosima laughed and nodded in agreement. She looked around the plane and noticed that there wasn’t much inside, besides the three of them, their luggage that was tied to the back of the plane, some ancient looking life vests, and a small first aid kit.

“I bet MacGuyver could make a bomb out of the stuff in this plane,” she said.

“MacGuyver?” Delphine asked, tilting her head to the side.

Cosima nodded. “Yeah, old TV show. This guy could make all these different contraptions with only, like, a paperclip and a roll of toilet paper. Scientifically speaking, it was a load of crap, but made for entertaining television, I guess.”

The plane had stopped shaking violently and Cosima relaxed a little. “See? Nothing to worry about,” Benjamin called out from the pilot’s seat. Just as he said that, there was a loud bang and the plane began weaving once more. Cosima looked out the window and saw smoke flowing behind the tail.

“What the hell was that?” Cosima exclaimed. “Is the fucking plane on fire?”

“One of the engines blew, but the other is still okay for now,” Benjamin replied, trying to hold the steering wheel steady. “I’m going to try and land somewhere.” He started talking into the radio rapidly while the plane stuttered and started losing altitude. Cosima tightened her grip on the armrests and she felt Delphine reach over and grasp onto her arm. It was the first time during the entire flight that she looked afraid. They could feel the plane nosediving toward land. Cosima took one of her hands and put it over Delphine’s as everything went black.


	2. Chapter 2

Cosima gasped for air as she woke up and she tried to orient herself. She was still sitting, but it wasn’t quite right. She looked around her and she was hanging in the seat of the plane. To her right, Delphine was also in the suspended state and looked to be unconscious. Cosima tried calling out her name, but there was no movement. Ahead of her, Benjamin was in the cockpit, but he was hunched over the steering wheel and wasn’t moving, either.

Cosima tried to unfasten her seatbelt, but it was stuck in place. No matter how hard she pulled or how many times she pushed the button, it wouldn’t release. She regretted tightening it so much earlier in the flight. Looking around, she tried to find something that might be able to cut. To her left, she saw a multi-tool strapped to the wall of the plane and she reached over to grab it. She had to strain herself to reach the tool, finally grabbing it and flipping out all of the different tools. Thankfully, it had a seatbelt cutter, so she began sawing away at the straps keeping her in place.

When the final few threads snapped, Cosima fell forward out of her seat and onto the ground, curling up into a ball while she let out a series of coughs. She grunted and picked herself up, walking over toward Delphine and checked her pulse. It was weak, but she was alive. She couldn’t say the same about Benjamin, though; he no longer had a pulse. Delphine groaned behind her and Cosima rushed over.

“Hey, don’t move. I’ll need to cut you out.”

Delphine nodded slowly and closed her eyes while Cosima worked on the seatbelt. It snapped free and Delphine fell on top of Cosima and they fell to the floor. Delphine yelped, clutched her side, and rolled over. Cosima looked at her and saw a small piece of shrapnel lodged between her ribs.

“Shit,” she whispered. “Um, okay, what do I do?”

“You will have to take the piece of metal out and get something to stop the bleeding. It isn’t too deep. I’ll probably need stitches, too.”

The color from Cosima’s face faded immediately and she swallowed hard. She looked around the plane and opened her luggage, pulling out a towel she brought with her before climbing into the cockpit and searching through the compartments. She found an unopened bottle of whiskey in one of them.

“Thank you, Benjamin,” she said before she climbed back to the rear. Delphine had moved herself to lean against the copilot’s seat. She slowly started to remove her coat, wincing in pain with every movement. “I found alcohol to wash the wound with,” Cosima said proudly.

Delphine nodded and was breathing heavily. “I need you to take the piece of metal out,” she said as she braced herself, grabbing the metal bars jutting out of the side of the plane. Cosima felt nauseous and her mouth went dry.

“Uh, right, okay. I can do this.” She sat on her knees next to Delphine and stared at the foreign object piercing the blonde’s skin. Slowly, she grabbed onto it, but she hesitated.

“Just do it,” Delphine growled. Cosima ripped the metal out of Delphine’s ribcage and she cried out in pain. Cosima poured a small amount of whiskey on the wound and Delphine flinched.

“Shit, sorry,” Cosima apologized. Delphine grabbed the bottle out of Cosima’s hand and took a swig while Cosima took the towel and pressed down on the wound. She took another look around the plane, but had no idea what to do. They wouldn’t be able to stay in the plane forever or they’ll freeze to death, if they don’t get eaten by a wild animal first. “We’re going to have to move at some point.”

“I will not be able to get far in my condition,” Delphine said. Cosima continued searching around the plane, not sure what to look for. She searched Benjamin’s body and tried not to vomit all over herself. As she shifted his coat around, she found a gun resting in a holster on his side. She then searched the medical kit and found bandages and a flare gun. She set everything in front of Delphine.

“Okay, here’s what I’ve found so far, plus whatever we have in our luggage.” She walked over to her suitcase that had gotten thrown to the front of the plane and pulled out a beanie and a heavier coat, putting everything on. She looked at her phone, but she didn’t have any service, and the battery was down to forty-five percent.

“I have a sewing kit in my suitcase,” Delphine said, pointing to her luggage.

Cosima raised her eyebrow. “Really?”

“I like to be prepared.”

Cosima was about to say something about MacGuyver again, but decided against it. She would have plenty of time to be snarky later. She unzipped Delphine’s suitcase and searched the pockets. “Um, where exactly am I looking? I don’t want to snoop.”

“It’s in the pouch attached to the side.”

Cosima found the sewing kit and took it back to Delphine, who opened it and started threading a needle with her shaking hands. Cosima took it from her, slipping the thin thread through the eye of the needle and handed it back to Delphine, who knotted the end of the string and lifted the hem of her shirt just above the cut. As she was about to stick the needle into her skin, Cosima waved her hands in front of herself.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, what are you doing?”

“I have to stitch it,” Delphine answered nonchalantly, bringing the needle back to her skin.

“Have you ever done this before?” Cosima asked, looking pale once more.

“Non, not on myself, but I have sutured many times.”

Cosima stammered. “Okay, stop. Give it to me.” Delphine handed the needle over to Cosima.

“Have _you_ done this before?” Delphine teased, giving Cosima a tiny smirk.

“Yeah, of course. It’s just like sewing up a turkey, right? No sweat.” She held the needle above Delphine’s skin.

“Did you just compare me to a bird?”

Cosima shushed her. “I’m concentrating.” She pierced Delphine’s skin and slowly dragged the needle and thread through. She watched Delphine’s chest swell higher and higher as her breath started getting heavier. Delphine took another swig of whiskey and watched Cosima intently, making sure the stitches would seal everything up.

“You’re not doing too badly. You may have a future as a doctor, or a turkey seamstress.”

Cosima laughed and poked her tongue between her teeth as she continued to sew up the wound. When she finished, she took the bottle of whiskey out of Delphine’s hand and poured a little over the stitches.

“There. You’ll be good as new in no time and you’ll have a wicked scar you can show your future children.”

Delphine let out a chuckle and relaxed against the side of the plane. Cosima found a thin blanket and threw it over Delphine’s lap.

“Where do you think we are?” she asked.

Delphine thought for a few seconds. “Well, we were only in the air for a little over three hours, flying east. We’re probably in Newfoundland or still somewhere in Québec.”

Cosima hummed. It didn’t really make any difference where they were. All she knew was that it was cold and Delphine was hurt. She stood up and turned the handle of the door, pushing it open. The freezing air rushed in and stung her face. She grabbed the flare gun and jumped out of the plane into the snow. There was no sign of life anywhere around; everything was white and cold and silent. She climbed back into the plane and closed the door behind her.

“Did you happen to pack food?” Cosima asked, slumping to the floor.

“Just granola bars and small things,” Delphine answered. “They should be in the inside pocket of my purse.” Cosima nodded and handed Delphine her purse, not wanting to be nosey. She opened up her own bag and took out the snacks she brought herself, laying them out in front of her.

“Okay, well, we should ration everything and try to conserve. We don’t know how long it’ll be before someone finds us.”

Delphine nodded in agreement. She opened the first aid kit and took inventory. When she found gauze and medical tape, she took it out and bandaged up her newly stitched wound. They spent two days inside of the plane, nibbling on granola bars and mixed nuts. They shared a bottle of water between the two of them and slept uncomfortably against the walls. Cosima would ask Delphine questions about her husband, but the subject would always quickly change to questions about Shay or Cosima’s family.

On the morning of the third day, Cosima wrinkled her forehead while she looked at their stock. They were out of food and water. Of course, they could just use snow for water, but they wouldn’t be able to live on snow-water alone.

“I think we should keep moving. We can’t stay here forever,” Cosima said.

“I really think we should stay put,” Delphine argued. “Chances are, the plane has some sort of GPS and Benjamin was talking into the radio before we crashed. Someone must be coming.”

Cosima shook her head. “We haven’t seen a single plane in the past two days. If we stay here, we’re going to starve or freeze to death.” She rubbed her hands together, hoping the friction would warm them.

“You can go if you want,” Delphine huffed. “We wouldn’t get very far, anyway.”

Cosima rolled her eyes. “You are so unbelievably stubborn.” The frustration had been building up since the crash. Cosima always found herself getting irritable whenever she had to spend too much time around the same person. It was a miracle that she could stand spending time around Shay enough to want to marry her. It did help that she was busy with her PhD and Shay worked nights, so they really only spent weekends together.

“I’m realistic,” Delphine countered. “Look at me, I’m injured. I wouldn’t be able to walk for very long without having to take a break.”

“Well, I can’t just sit here and do nothing,” Cosima said, shaking her head. She grabbed her backpack and started shoving things into it – extra clothes, some toiletries, the multi-tool, and an empty water bottle that she would fill with snow. She stood in front of the door and handed Delphine the gun that she found on Benjamin. Cosima had wrapped the dead body in a tarp and dragged it far away, so the rotting flesh wouldn’t stink up the small plane. She wished she could have given him a proper burial, but she didn’t have a shovel.

“I’ll come back if I find anything,” she promised. “Keep the flare gun near you, too.” Delphine nodded and leaned her head back onto the cold metal. Cosima swung the door open and looked out. “You’ll have to close the door behind me.” She jumped down and tried to find the best direction to go. Delphine struggled to stand and looked out the door, watching Cosima walk aimlessly away from the plane.

“Be careful,” she called out to the brunette and was answered with a wave. She waited until she could no longer see Cosima before closing the door.

Cosima looked behind her and couldn’t see the plane anymore, but kept trudging through the snow that came up to her ankles. If she had known she was going to crash a plane in the middle of nowhere, she would have packed accordingly. This was a terrible idea. She should have stayed with Delphine, but she didn’t see any other option. She didn’t think that anyone was coming for them and starving or freezing to death didn’t sound all that appealing. When she was able to climb to a higher altitude, she pulled out her phone. Still no signal and down to twenty percent. She sighed and put it back into her pocket.

As she was about to take another step forward, she heard gunshots coming from behind her. Was that coming from the plane? She raced back, retracing her steps, the cold air burning her chest as it filled her lungs. The plane appeared on the horizon and it looked like it had been shifted, so it was sitting upright, the way it should be. There were large gashes on the side, like claw marks, and a hole where the door should be.

“Delphine?” Cosima yelled, running as fast as she could. She burst through the hole on the side of the plane and saw Delphine curled up in the corner near the front seat, clutching the gun to her chest. “Hey, are you okay?”

“Ours,” Delphine said between breaths.

“What?” Cosima asked.

Delphine shook her head, forgetting Cosima didn’t speak French. “Bear.”

“You shot a freaking bear?” Cosima asked incredulously. “Aren’t they supposed to sleep during winter?”

“Non, I shot at it, just to scare it away.” Delphine was visibly shaking. Cosima crouched down in front of her and placed a hand gently on her arm.

“I’m sorry I left. I shouldn’t have,” Cosima said consolingly. She reached for the gun and pried it away from Delphine’s hands, laying it on the floor. Delphine shot forward and wrapped her arms around Cosima, hugging her closely, finally allowing all of the stress and fear from the plane crash pour out of her. Cosima held onto her and gave Delphine time to let it all out. She traced tiny circles across Delphine’s back and when she stilled, she pulled away slightly. “Want to pack up some things and we’ll head out?” Delphine nodded, wincing as she stood and moved toward the luggage. 

She hadn’t anticipated needing a backpack or anything other than suitcases, but she did bring a small duffel bag. She emptied its contents on the floor of the plane to see what she would absolutely need. She packed some clothing and toiletries, just as Cosima had done, adding the first aid kit and flare gun, as well as a flashlight, the sewing kit, and a few other things. Cosima noticed Delphine taking out a small black box out of her suitcase as she rolled up the blanket. She picked up the gun off of the floor and tucked it into the back of her pants. Taking out the multi-tool, she cut and ripped open the seats and removed some of the fibers from inside, and removed a rope that lined the sides of the plane out of its hooks, coiling it up, and sticking it in her bag.

“Ready?” she asked.

“Yes,” Delphine answered, moving toward the hole in the side of the plane. They exited and started walking in the same direction that Cosima went the first time, leaving the plane behind them. After walking for quite a while, Cosima explained how to play Eye Spy with Delphine. Everything that Cosima spied was always white and the answer was always “snow.”

After hours of walking, they still hadn’t found anything that could act as a shelter.

“It’s going to start getting dark soon,” Cosima said, clearly defeated. “We need to find somewhere to stay for the night. If I had a saw and three hours, I could have built us an igloo.”

Delphine took a look around and grabbed Cosima by the wrist, leading her out of the snow and through some trees. She knew they needed to get out of the snow, out of the cold. There were a lot of hills and probably plenty of caves around. They walked around for another half hour until they found a small cave to slide into that would work for the night. Cosima told Delphine to sit down while she gathered some wood and kindling for a fire.

When she got back with an armful of wood, she let it fall to the ground and sat down in front of it. She found a piece of wood with a flat side and used the fibers from the plane seats to make a tinder nest to lay on top of it. She used the multi-tool to dig out a notch and got a longer stick to act as the spindle. She held the spindle at the top and rubbed her hands back and forth rapidly all the way down the stick. Delphine watched her in amusement for a few minutes, watching Cosima swear and say how movies made it look so easy. Finally easing Cosima’s pain, she pulled out a lighter from her pocket and held it up.

“You had that the whole time?” Cosima gasped with a glare shooting straight at Delphine’s fingers that held the one thing that would have kept Cosima from blistering her hands for the past ten minutes.

Delphine giggled and handed her the lighter. Cosima took it and lit the tinder on fire and stoked it, adding sticks and other flammables. She handed the lighter back to Delphine and laid the blanket from the plane on the ground and sat down, leaving enough room for Delphine to sit next to her. Cosima wondered what Shay was doing, what part of France she and her parents were in. She also worried about how pissed Sarah was going to be when she didn’t show up when she was meant to and hadn’t told her she was going to be late.

Cosima glanced over at Delphine, who was staring straight into the fire, deep in thought. She wondered if Delphine was thinking about her husband and family. She found it a little strange that the blonde never wanted to talk about them, but thought that maybe she was just a private person. Delphine leaned back onto the blanket, letting out a strained noise while she held a hand over her wound.

“Does it hurt?” Cosima asked.

“A little,” Delphine replied, “but I’m fine.”

Cosima nodded and coughed a few times, the prickle in her throat never completely going away.

“How long have you had that cough?” Delphine asked.

Cosima shrugged. “About a week; it’s just a cold. Are you doctor-ing me?” She smirked and leaned back on her elbows. Shay had tried to convince her to go to the doctor, but Cosima didn’t think they’d be able to help. At best, she’d get some cough medicine or something equally as useless.

Delphine laughed and ducked her head. “It is a habit, sorry.”

Cosima smiled and added more wood to the fire before lying down on her back, blowing air into her fists. She closed her eyes and tried to forget about how dire their situation was. The most devastating thing about it was, Cosima didn’t know if she would ever see Shay or her family again and, the more she thought about it, she wasn’t sure if it mattered. She thought about the engagement ring she had in her backpack, what it stood for, what it meant. Did she actually want to get married, or was she going through the motions and doing what was expected?

It was a little too late to be thinking these things, but she had everything planned out already. She continued her game of Eye Spy with Delphine, where everything she saw was either orange or red and the answer was always “fire.” Though, she couldn’t be sure if she meant the fire burning in front of them, or the fire that was burning within her chest without her even realizing.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Posting once a week feels weird. I don't know how people do it, and I can't wait, so I'm posting this early. I can't help myself.

Cosima jolted awake, she was freezing and her joints ached. The fire had gone out, even though she tried waking up every hour to stoke it, but she must have finally fallen into a deep sleep. She lay back down, noticing that Delphine had been curled up close to her, trying to grasp onto every ounce of body heat that she could. The sun still hadn’t come up, but it was peeking above the horizon, threatening to engulf everything in its rays. Delphine began to stir and jerked herself awake, also realizing where she was.

“Good morning,” Cosima greeted her.

“Good morning,” Delphine mumbled back. She sat up and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. The hunger pangs in her stomach were becoming more and more noticeable. Cosima stood up and lifted her bag up with her.

“I’m going to use the ladies’ room. I’ll be right back.” She exited the cave and walked a few yards out, trying to find a good place to do her business, not that it really mattered. When she finished, she took out a toothbrush and toothpaste out of her backpack and brushed her teeth, using the melted snow in the water bottle to rinse her mouth out. By the time she got back to the cave, the blanket had already been folded up and Delphine was standing outside. She offered the water bottle to Delphine, who looked at it strangely.

“You didn’t fill that up where you… “

Cosima cocked her head to the side in confusion and then her eyes widened. “Oh, no. No, no, no. Of course not. I filled this up yesterday. I only drank a little and used it to brush my teeth with. We should limit how much we drink until we can boil it, anyway. Just to be safe.”

Delphine took the bottle and took a tiny sip. “You seem to know a lot about survival.”

Cosima chuckled and shrugged. “I watch a lot of _Survivorman_ and Bear Grylls.” When she saw the confusion in Delphine’s face, she clarified. “They’re these dudes who voluntarily get stranded somewhere and see if they can use the environment and a minimal amount of supplies to survive.

“Ah. Like MacGuyver,” Delphine said.

Cosima grinned widely. “Exactly, but a little more badass and a little less explode-y.”

Cosima made sure the fire was completely out before they set off again. Cosima had been tying little ribbons of leftover blue tarp on branches and bushes to lead them back to the plane if they needed to and continued to do so as they maneuvered deeper into the woods. Delphine needed frequent breaks due to her injury and Cosima would take the opportunity to refill their bottle or tie another ribbon.

She felt a rumble in her stomach and sighed. There weren’t even any edible plants that she could forage. She hated winter, she hated the cold. She hated how everything lay dormant for three or four months and the only life were animals who were built to survive in the harsh climate, which Cosima was not. She tried to convince Shay to move back to California, where her parents live, because those winters weren’t nearly as bad, but Shay didn’t want to.

When Delphine was ready to walk again, Cosima switched their bags, since it would be easier for her to carry an awkward duffel bag and Delphine could keep the backpack on her back with equal weight on her shoulders. Cosima was a couple yards ahead of Delphine, pushing branches aside and digging her feet into the deep snow. She looked ahead and saw something that didn’t look like trees or snow and squinted her eyes. She recognized the familiar frame of a building with a roof and a chimney. In her excitement, she raced toward the oasis ahead of her.

Delphine saw Cosima jet off and tried to keep up with her, but Cosima was too far ahead. When she got to the edge of the woods, Delphine stopped dead in her tracks and looked at her feet. They were standing on ice and Cosima was none the wiser, running full speed toward the cabin.

“Cosima, wait!” she exclaimed, but her voice didn’t carry far enough.

As Cosima was running, she heard a crack beneath her feet as she slid across the concealed ice that she mistook for snow. She stood still and looked behind her at Delphine, who stood at the edge, eyes wide.

“In hindsight, this was probably a bad idea,” Cosima said. She tossed the duffel bag to the side.

“Cosima, spread your feet out and shuffle to the cabin.” Cosima did as she was told, but she could hear the ice continue to crack until she fell through and was submerged under the icy water. “Cosima! Merde,” Delphine yelled as she tried to make her way toward the hole in the ice. She took the backpack off of her shoulders and dug into it until she found the coiled rope that Cosima packed. She tossed it into the hole and waited, looking for the blurry silhouette. Delphine hadn’t been religious since she was a little girl, but she prayed that Cosima could find the rope. She felt a tug and wrapped the rope around her arm and waist, sitting on her rear and pulled with all her might.

When she saw Cosima’s head pop out of the water with a gasp, Delphine crawled over to her and tugged onto her jacket, pulling her out of the water. Cosima lay on the ice and shivered uncontrollably. Delphine picked up the rope, the duffel bag, and backpack and helped Cosima to her feet, holding her close to her body as they made their way to the cabin. The adrenaline coursing through her body made her forget about her injury completely.

Cosima’s legs were failing her, her steps clumsy, and if Delphine hadn’t been hanging onto her, she would have surely fallen to the ground. Delphine tried the front door to the cabin and, thankfully, it was unlocked. They stepped inside and Delphine set Cosima down on a couch off to the right side while she looked for a blanket. She ran up the stairs into the bedroom and ripped a quilt off of one of the beds and back downstairs. She looked at the fireplace, which looked like it hadn’t been used all season. Books were lined up on a shelf next to the fireplace and, usually, Delphine would consider it a cardinal sin to rip pages out of them, but this was an emergency. She threw the loose papers into the fireplace and lit them with her lighter, searching around for something else to burn. Outside of the cabin, she found firewood stacked on the side of the cabin and she just hoped it wasn’t wet or rotten. She took a couple of logs inside and threw one on top of the burning paper.

Cosima was still shaking and her eyes were closed while she lay on the sofa. Delphine sat her up and took her soaked jacket off.

“I need to take off your wet clothes.”

“I usually ask for dinner first,” Cosima joked, her body still convulsing and teeth chattering. She allowed Delphine to remove her shirt and she unbuttoned her own pants, trying to peel them off of her body. When she was clad in her underwear, not even thinking about how immodest she was, Delphine covered her in the quilt and placed her in front of the fire, rubbing up and down her arms with her hands. Delphine took a pillow off of the couch and put it on the floor near Cosima.

“Lie down, I’m going to see what else is in here.” She stood and hung the wet clothes over the backs of a couple chairs and looked around the kitchen. It didn’t look like there was any electricity, but Delphine turned on the sink and there was water, at least, but she wasn’t sure if there was any hot water. She opened the cupboards and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw some unopened canned goods. She took out some beans and found a pot. Searching through the drawers, she found a can opener and took it back to where Cosima was. “Look what I found.”

Cosima lifted her head slightly and saw the can. She mustered a small smile before her head felt too heavy and set it back onto the pillow. Delphine opened it with the can opener and poured the contents into the pot. She placed it in front of the fire and sat down next to Cosima, who was still shivering. Delphine sighed and pulled the blanket off of Cosima, who gave her a confused look. She removed her jacket, shirt, and boots, threw the quilt around herself, and lay down behind Cosima, wrapping both of them up, sharing her body heat.

“I definitely ask for dinner before spooning,” Cosima said. Delphine let out a huff of air and smiled, her face uncomfortably close to the back of Cosima’s neck. As she wrapped her arms around her, she felt the brunette's body get stiff.

“Does this make you uncomfortable? I can just go get more blankets.”

Cosima shook her head. “No, it’s fine.” She breathed in deeply and exhaled slowly, feeling the curves of Delphine’s body melding into hers.

“Are you feeling any warmer?”

“Yeah, actually. Thanks.” Cosima tried to convince herself that it was the combination of the fire and body heat that was keeping her warm, not the fact that she’s blushing profusely due to being so close to Delphine. Her thoughts betrayed her; she should be thinking about Shay and getting back to her. Instead, she was thinking about how she could feel Delphine’s breath on the tiny hairs on her neck and how her arm was wrapped around her waist.

About ten minutes later, Delphine stood up and went back to the kitchen in search of silverware; Cosima immediately missed the warmth. Delphine found a spoon and walked back to the fireplace, handing it to her.

“Eat,” she instructed.

Cosima sat up and used the blanket to move the pot away from the fire and leaned over it. “What about you?” she asked.

Delphine shook her head. “You first. I’ll eat later.”

Cosima took a spoonful of beans and blew on it gently before shoveling it into her mouth. It felt so good to eat again. She sighed happily and hummed as she continued to eat. Delphine was watching her and sitting close by, knees almost touching. The silence made Cosima feel awkward, so she swallowed her bite of beans and turned toward the other woman. “If there’s a cabin here, do you think there’s a town close by? Or at least some civilization?”

“Perhaps,” Delphine answered. “It really depends on where we landed. Most of this part of Canada is uninhabited, but having a cabin here is promising.”

Cosima looked at the pot and there was about half a can left. She offered it to Delphine, who reluctantly took it and began eating. Cosima switched her gaze between Delphine and the rest of the room. It wasn’t anything fancy, but it looked like just a regular cabin that people may have used while they went hunting. After she recovered, she would have to check and see if there’s a generator, or something, around the back.

When Delphine finished eating, she took the pot to the sink and washed it out. She looked at the rest of the cupboards to see what was left. Most of it was baked beans or canned vegetables. There were a few cans of soup, as well. She would save those for a special occasion, she decided.

She shut the cupboards and walked back toward the fireplace. Cosima was lying down on the floor again, in front of the dying fire. Delphine put on her shirt, coat, and shoes back on, and walked out the door. She gathered more wood and brought it inside. After removing the outerwear, she knelt beside Cosima and tried to rouse her from her sleep.

“Cosima,” she whispered, “you should at least sleep on the sofa.” Cosima grumbled and shifted, pulling the quilt around her tighter. Delphine rubbed her shoulder again. “Come on, let’s go.”

Finally, Cosima opened her eyes and sluggishly stood up until she was able to walk to the couch, where she collapsed. Delphine put another log on the fire and went back upstairs to look for more blankets. She found a couple more and brought them downstairs. She folded one up and lay it on the floor near the sofa and put another one over Cosima’s still body. When she was certain that Cosima was asleep, she lay down on her poor excuse of a bed and covered herself with a blanket. She made a list of things that she and Cosima would need to do until the crackling of the fire and Cosima’s deep breaths lulled her to sleep.

Cosima awoke with a violent cough and felt her lungs and throat constrict. She didn’t stop coughing for a good thirty seconds and Delphine stared at her with a frown. When the coughing finally died down, Cosima looked at her hand and saw the red splotches.

“Huh. That’s new,” she said, unfazed.

Delphine grabbed Cosima’s wrist and looked at the blood that coated her hand and let out a strained noise. She went to the kitchen to grab a towel and took it back to wipe the blood off.

“Is that the first time that’s happened?” she asked. Cosima nodded and used the towel to wipe off her mouth. Delphine looked over to her bag and then stood up. “I’m going to see if there’s a generator outside. You should see if there’s hot water and run yourself a bath.”

Cosima wrapped the quilt around her body and climbed up the stairs while Delphine left the cabin in search for something useful. The bath was a large tub with golden lion feet at the corners. Cosima turned on the water and placed her hand under the spout to see if it got warm. She smiled from ear to ear when the water splashing over and around her hand heated up and she let the water fill the tub as she ran back downstairs to get her shampoo and soap.

Delphine walked all around the outside of the cabin to see if she could find a generator. She did find one, but it looked to be out of gas. A small shed sat a few yards from the house, so Delphine went to investigate. It was full of tools and some extra lanterns, which she took with her. When she got back to the cabin, Cosima wasn’t in front of the fire. She called out her name.

“In the bath. The water feels great,” she replied. Delphine made a mental note to take a bath later, as well. She set up the lanterns around the main room and added another log to the fire. She went upstairs to look around again; she didn’t want to sleep on the hard floor again, but it was cold upstairs. She dragged one of the mattresses off a bed and pushed it down the stairs. It leaned against the sofa while she pushed the coffee table off to the side.

Delphine dragged the mattress to the middle of the room, right in front of the fireplace and ran back up to get some sheets. She caught herself wondering if Cosima would want to share the bed with her, or if she would stay on the sofa. It was a ridiculous thought; Cosima was getting engaged. She stared at her own wedding ring and rotated it around her finger.

Splashing sounds came from the bathroom as she gathered blankets and sheets in her arms and took them back downstairs. Cosima joined her shortly after in pajama bottoms and a long sleeve shirt, towel drying her hair.

“I take it you couldn’t find a generator?”

Delphine shook her head. “It is out of, what do you call it, juice?”

Cosima looked at the mattress in the middle of the floor, but didn’t say anything. “At least there’s a little more light in here with those lanterns.” Delphine hummed and smiled in response.

“I think I’ll go take a bath now,” Delphine said as she opens her duffel and took out some fresh clothes. When she walked up the stairs, Cosima went into the kitchen and opened another can of food into a pot and set it in front of the fire to warm up. She sat down on the edge of the mattress and stared into the orange and red flames. If she didn’t think too hard about it, she could almost imagine herself being on vacation. Shay would hate it.

There it was again. Shay. She’s who Cosima is supposed to be going home to. It’s who she’s supposed to be fighting for her survival for. She could have died in that icy water and all she’d thought about since then was how Delphine had saved her life, and how it felt when she was pressed up behind her when they were laying together. And on top of that, Delphine was married.

She closed her eyes and took out her phone. It had nine percent battery left and she unlocked it and started going through her photos. The most recent one had been a photo of the two of them the night before Shay left for France. Cosima had sent it to Shay and jokingly told her to look at it whenever she was tempted by some “French hottie” she came across. She laughed despite herself and shook her head.

“Is that your fiancée?” Delphine’s voice said from the end of the sofa, startling her.

“Oh, uh, yeah. This is Shay,” she held her phone up, so Delphine could get a better look.

“She’s beautiful,” Delphine said, leaning her head forward.

“Yeah, she is,” Cosima answered quietly. “Oh, shit, I completely forgot about the food.” She used a towel to move the pot away from the fire. Most of it had gotten burned to the sides and Cosima sighed.

“It’s okay, we can make more,” Delphine offered. She walked back to the kitchen and got another pot and can of food. By her calculations, they would probably have enough food to last a couple weeks. She opened the can and emptied it into the new pot, placing it near the fire, and took a seat next to Cosima on the mattress.

“Do you have any photos of your husband?” Cosima asked.

Delphine shook her head. “No, I didn’t bring any with me and I think my phone is dead.”

“I brought an external charger, but I’m guessing we should probably save that for emergencies, or when we can actually get cell service.”

They sat in silence for a while as Delphine dried her hair with a towel, her curls had become more pronounced. Cosima rested her arms over her legs and looked at Delphine out of the corner of her eye. She was chewing on the corner of her lip and her eyes were focused on the fire in front of them.

Cosima cleared her throat. “I never actually thanked you for saving me. I don’t know how I can ever repay you.”

“You don’t have to thank me. You would have done the same for me.”

Cosima smirked. “You sound so sure about that.”

Delphine finally peeled her eyes away from the fire and looked at Cosima. “Are you saying you would have let me drown?”

“No, of course not,” Cosima replied, chuckling. “Well, in any case, I at least owe you a drink when we get out of here.”

“It’s a deal,” Delphine said with a smile.

They took the rest of the day to rest and recuperate, licking their wounds and allowing their bodies to recover. Cosima found a closet full of board games and showed them to Delphine with enthusiasm. “Okay, there’s Monopoly, which I don’t recommend if we want to stay friends, Risk, Clue, and Life.

They decided to start with Life first and by the end, Cosima had a car full of children and was living in a shack as a scientist, while Delphine had a spouse, two children, worked as a doctor, and lived in a Victorian house. Cosima noticed that Delphine had a little pink person as her spouse, but assumed it was an accident.

“I guess a profession in science isn’t as lucrative as I thought,” said Cosima as she held her shack card.

“It has its moments,” Delphine replied. “I was not in it for the money, though.”

“Oh yeah? Says the doctor-scientist. What kind of car do you drive?”

Delphine raised her eyebrow. She knew what Cosima was trying to do. “I drive an Audi.”

“Ah ha! Not in it for the money, my ass.”

Delphine rolled her eyes. She didn’t tell Cosima that her other car was a Jaguar. They finished cleaning up their game and had lunch. Afterwards, Cosima started to set up Clue when she paused.

“Hey, so, I just realized that I kind of assumed you were married to a man, but then I saw you use a pink peg for a spouse and was wondering if that was an accident, or if I completely made a fool out of myself.”

Delphine chuckled. “No, it’s fine. A lot of people assume that I married a man.” Cosima quirked her eyebrow. She had read Delphine all wrong and it was a little exciting. She continued to set up their board game and would ask random questions, trying to pry more information from the blonde, but was finding it difficult to get Delphine to answer without being vague or tiptoeing around the question.

“Will you at least tell me her name?”

Delphine laughed and rolled the dice. “Maddie, short for Madeleine.”

“Maddie, okay. That’s a nice name.”

Cosima decided to give Delphine a break and stopped asking invasive questions and just finished their game (it was Colonel Mustard in the library with the rope). They decided to save Risk for another day and looked through the books on the bookshelf to read. Cosima chose _The Call of the Wild_ and Delphine picked out _The Little Prince_. They read in silence for a while, until it started getting too dark, even with the fire and lanterns. Cosima took her spot on the couch and Delphine laid down on the mattress. She offered a spot on the mattress to Cosima, who politely declined. “The sofa is comfy,” she said and wrapped herself up in a blanket. Delphine was facing the fire and Cosima watched her shoulders lift with each breath. She swallowed hard and closed her eyes, trying to push down whatever feelings were trying to bubble up to the surface. Delphine was married and she was getting engaged. Even if they were stuck in a cabin in the middle of nowhere, she couldn’t let herself feel, so she kept everything as frozen as the ice and snow outside.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, one more chapter after this one. I hope everyone's enjoyed it thus far. Also, Christmas is coming up, so if you have any Christmas prompts, lay ‘em on me.

The next day, Cosima and Delphine took turns bathing and got dressed to go outside and look around. Cosima kept tying ribbons onto branches, which Delphine found endearing. They walked around for about a half hour before Cosima started to cough hard enough to make her buckle over and drop to her hands and knees. Red spots dotted the snow beneath her and Delphine kneeled next to her.

“Cosima, this is not a cold,” she said. “We need to get back to the cabin.” She put one of Cosima’s arms around her shoulder and held her by the waist while they walked back to the cabin, using the ribbons to find their way. Back at the cabin, Delphine set Cosima down on the mattress in front of the fire, added another log, and walked over to her bag. She took out the black box that Cosima saw earlier. It was filled with syringes and Delphine took one of them out, along with an alcohol swab from the first aid kit. She sat next to Cosima, removed her jacket, and lifted the sleeve of her shirt.

“Wait, wait, how do you know I have whatever respiratory disease this treatment is meant for? You’re just going to shoot me up with some mystery serum and hope for the best? I don’t even know what’s in it. We haven’t run any tests.”

Delphine rested her hand on Cosima’s arm. “Cosima, listen to me. I’ve seen these symptoms hundreds of times. If it’s left untreated, you’re going to die. And, if it turns out that you don’t have the same respiratory disease, there’s no negative side effects of having the treatment.”

“Okay, but if I take this treatment, that means someone else won’t get it.”

“I can have more sent to me. Please, Cosima,” Delphine pleaded. Cosima sighed and nodded. Delphine took the cap off of the syringe and stuck the needle into Cosima’s arm, pushing the stopper down all the way. “Thank you,” she whispered. “Besides, I don’t exactly like the idea of being stuck in the cabin alone.”

Cosima scoffed. “Oh, so this was totally a selfish act. I’m appalled, Doctor… huh, I don’t even know your last name.”

“Cormier.”

“Doctor Cormier. That has a nice ring to it. Sounds way better than Niehaus.”

Delphine didn’t realize that she still had her hand on Cosima’s arm, until she felt fingers interlacing with her own. She looked down at Cosima, who was staring at her with a slightly crooked smile. Delphine took her hand back and stood up.

“I, ehm, we should eat. I’ll go make us some lunch.”

Cosima watched her walk into the kitchen and switched her attention back to the fire. _Don’t be an idiot_ , she said to herself. She forced herself to think about Shay and her speech that she wrote up for the proposal, but it was starting to feel disingenuous. Delphine came back with a pot of canned food and an extra bowl, and placed them in front of the fire. She sat further from Cosima than normal. Cosima brought her knees up to her chest and held them close to her body, laying her head on top of them. The crackling of the firewood was the only noise that filled the room, until Cosima lifted her head and bolted up, running to her bag to get the flare gun and running outside without a jacket or shoes.

“Cosima?” Delphine called after her, but Cosima ignored it.

She ran out to the front of the cabin at the edge of the icy water and looked up into the sky. A small dot flew overhead and Cosima pointed the orange flare gun into the air and fired. A trail of smoke flew into the air and sparks exploded into the air. Delphine ran out with a jacket and draped it over Cosima’s shoulders, looking into the air in the same direction that Cosima was looking.

“Fuck,” Cosima muttered. “They didn’t see it.” She walked back into the cabin without a word and Delphine followed. Cosima let the jacket fall off of her shoulders just inside the doorway and slunk back down onto the mattress. “We’re never getting out of here.”

Delphine sat down next to her, closer this time. “We can’t give up. We will get out of here.”

Cosima shook her head and laughed sardonically. She stands suddenly and starts pacing around the room, waving her arms in the air. “This is bullshit. All of this is bullshit. I should be in Paris right now, but instead, I’m stuck in this goddamn cabin in who knows where and we’re running out of food and firewood. Fuck!” She threw the extra bowl that was next to the pot at a wall and it shattered. Her breaths were short and she hung her head low into her chest. Delphine walked up to her slowly, leaving very little space between them, gently squeezing one of her arms. Before she knew what she was doing, Cosima grasped onto both sides of Delphine’s face and kissed her harshly, lips and teeth clashing against each other.

Delphine held Cosima’s face inches away from hers and looked into her pleading eyes. “Cosima, what are you doing? We can’t. You’re getting engaged.”

“Not if we never leave here,” Cosima said, surging forward for another kiss. She sat down on the mattress and pulled Delphine down with her. Delphine lay flat on the mattress, cheeks flushed, and Cosima leaned on her side, looking down at her. “Tell me you want me to stop and I will,” she whispered, placing gentle kisses down Delphine’s jaw. Delphine opened her mouth multiple times to speak, but no words came out. When Cosima didn’t hear any opposition, she continued kissing every inch or Delphine’s face, sliding a hand beneath her shirt and running it up her ribs, making sure to avoid the area around her cut. Delphine shuddered under the touch and sat up to remove her shirt and bra, while Cosima did the same. Cosima sucked in a breath when she saw Delphine’s bare torso. She leaned in to take a nipple into her hungry mouth and sucked gently. Delphine gasped and arched her back into Cosima, holding the back of the brunette’s head. Cosima shifted her body, so she was sat in between Delphine’s legs, paying close attention to her breasts and kissing down to her stomach. She sat up once more with her hands at the button of Delphine’s pants.

“You’re sure you’re okay?” she asked.

Delphine closed her eyes and nodded, not trusting the words that may come out of her mouth. Cosima smiled and unbuttoned Delphine’s pants, then lowered the zipper. As she slowly pulled her jeans down, Delphine lifted her hips, so Cosima could remove them completely. Cosima continued placing feather-light kisses down Delphine’s abdomen and across her hips, down her thighs, until her head settled between her legs. She breathed in the intoxicating scent and licked an experimental line up Delphine’s slit, over her underwear, causing her hips to buck and a cry to escape her mouth. Cosima grinned widely and pulled at the elastic band, peeling them down Delphine’s long legs. She wrapped her arms around the blonde’s thighs and kissed her pubic bone, watching Delphine’s chest heave up and down. She was shifting uncomfortably and rotating her hips up, silently begging Cosima to give her what she wanted, until, finally, Cosima licked up the length of her entrance, gathering wetness on her tongue and swirled it around Delphine’s clit. The guttural moan that came from Delphine’s throat rang throughout the whole cabin and spurred Cosima on more. She brought a finger to Delphine’s entrance and slid it in, gently at first.

Watching Delphine with her eyes closed, panting and trying to grab onto anything near her was, quite possibly, the sexiest thing that Cosima had ever seen. She slid a second finger in and pumped them in and out a few times before attaching her mouth onto Delphine’s clit once again. Once Delphine started swearing in French and wrapped a hand around the back of Cosima’s head, she decided that _that_ was the sexiest thing that she had ever seen or heard. With a few more thrusts and flicks of the tongue, Delphine was tensing around Cosima’s fingers and coming with a silent cry. Cosima crawled up the mattress until she was lying next to Delphine, who was still trying to slow her breaths.

“You’re really beautiful, you know that?” Cosima said, draping an arm across Delphine’s torso, nuzzling her head into the space between her neck and shoulder.

Delphine laughed. “I’m sure you say that to all the girls you have sex with in abandoned cabins.”

Cosima kissed her cheek. “Nah, only special ones.”

Delphine looked over and studied every inch of Cosima’s face, biting her lip. She lifted herself and swung her leg over, until she hovered above Cosima’s body and began to kiss bare patches of skin, showing her the same amount of care that Cosima had just shown her. She kissed and licked and thrusted, until Cosima was calling her name and arching her back and tensing her muscles.

After the two women were completely spent, they lay together, limbs entwined with one another, lying silently, until Delphine started to laugh to herself. Cosima looked up at her.

“What’s so funny?”

Delphine shook her head. “Nothing. It’s just been a long time since I’ve had that much sex. I’m out of practice.”

“Really?” Cosima asked. “Married life is that dull? Is that what I have to look forward to?”

Delphine got quiet again, as if she was trying to choose her next words carefully. “My wife died two years ago, same respiratory disease that I’m curing now. We couldn’t come up with a treatment in time for her, so I threw myself into the work after her death.”

Cosima stilled her body and sat up straight. “Wait, but, you said you’ve been married for a year and a half and that you work together.”

“We were married for a year and a half and I said we worked together, past tense.”

“Oh, God, what the fuck did I just do?” Cosima put her clothes back on, grabbed her jacket and shoes, and left the cabin. She started walking, not caring which direction or where she was going. The realization that she had just cheated on Shay was hitting her. It didn’t matter that she didn’t know whether or not she’d ever make it back alive, but the fact that Delphine wasn’t cheating on anyone, besides the memory of her wife, made everything that much worse. She was the asshole. She didn’t know how she would be able to face anyone back home, if she ever made it out of that snowy hell. As she pushed her way through the tree branches and lifted her feet out of the fresh snow, she looked around and realized she didn’t know where she was. She cursed under her breath for leaving so hastily and just sat down in the snow, covering her face with her hands and letting the tears flow. Her pants were getting soaked through, but she didn’t care. Through her sobs, her chest started to burn and then the coughing came, relentlessly. As blood filled her mouth and splattered onto her hand and the snow beneath her, she got lightheaded and her vision became blurry, until she saw nothing.

She awoke to the faint sound of her name being called and felt her body being lifted into the air, but she lost consciousness again. The next time she woke up, she was lying down in front of the fire with blankets covering her, still shivering. She felt a body behind her and arms wrapped around her own, but she was too weak to protest or move, so she let herself drift off. By the time she woke up again, Delphine wasn’t lying next to her anymore. She lifted her head and looked around the room. It had gotten dark and the lanterns were on. Delphine walked through the door a few seconds later with more firewood and saw that Cosima was awake.

“Hi,” she said.

“Hey,” Cosima replied, now sitting up.

“Are you hungry? I can warm something up.”

Cosima shook her head and looked away. She was still upset and full of guilt and was worried that if she kept looking at Delphine, she would say something that she would later regret. Delphine dropped the logs next to the fireplace and sat on the sofa, putting distance between herself and Cosima. She worried her bottom lip and waited for Cosima to say something first, but when she didn’t, she felt like she should.

“I’m sorry if I was misleading. It wasn’t my intention.”

“Delphine, don’t.”

“You almost died out there, Cosima. Again. Don’t you get that?” Delphine sighed. “Once we get out of here, we don’t need to speak of it ever again. We can forget it ever happened, if that’s what you want. You don’t even have to see me again. But you need to be more careful.”

Cosima scoffed. “Seriously, Delphine? How can I forget this happened? I’ve almost died three times and you had to save me two of those times, not to mention the treatment. How can I go back to a normal life after any of this? How am I supposed to forget?”

“That’s what Shay’s for, and your family.”

“You don’t understand,” Cosima said, rubbing her forehead. “The only reason why my relationship with Shay works is because we spend so little time together and I can’t get tired of her. God, I’m such an asshole.”

“Well, maybe you just need to re-evaluate your life and your relationship with Shay. You want to propose, so you must love her in some capacity.”

Cosima laughed bitterly. “Or I’m just trying to convince myself that I do by giving her a ring. Christ, you need to stay away from me, Delphine. I’m a mess.”

Delphine reached out to cup Cosima’s face in her hand and stroked her cheek gently. “We are all messes, I think, but you have time to clean up. We’ll get out of this, you can still meet your family in Paris, and carry on.”

“Yeah, but now I’m not so sure if I want to,” Cosima said, sitting on the mattress.

“Why not?” Delphine asked, sitting next to her.

Cosima was silent for a long time, resting her head on her arms that were held up by her knees.

“Cosima?” Delphine tried again.

“Because I’m in love with you,” Cosima said softly.

Delphine shook her head and looked away. “Non, it’s just because we’re stuck here together and you’re upset. You’ve been through a lot. We just need to find our way out and we’ll go back to our lives.”

Cosima laughed humorlessly. She admired Delphine for trying to make sense of everything and detach herself from the situation, but she knew Delphine felt the same. She was just trying to not get hurt, which wasn’t something that Cosima could blame her for. If she was being honest with herself, she hadn’t felt this alive in a long time and she knew it wasn’t just because she felt hopeless in the cabin.

“No, no,” Cosima said, shaking her head. “I know what I feel in my heart, and I know that what I feel for you is something I’ve never felt for anyone else before. Ever.”

“The heart is just a muscle, Cosima. Nothing more.”

“You can try to science your way out of this all you want, but I know you feel the same way. You can’t keep running or throwing yourself into your work.” Cosima raised a hand to cup Delphine’s cheek and turned her head to face hers. “There’s no one else on this earth that I would rather MacGuyver in an abandoned cabin with.” She leaned in slowly and kissed Delphine chastely, not wanting to push her luck. It wasn’t until she felt Delphine’s hands snake down her ribs and behind her back that she kissed with fervor, wanting to show Delphine that her heart was more than a muscle – it was proof that they really had no control over anything, as Delphine hypothesized. Everything that had happened thus far was due to Cosima’s will to live, to be able to see Delphine’s face for one more day, to get her back to saving lives other than her own. She kissed Delphine to show her that it wasn’t just because they were merely surviving. The taste of iron mixed with mint as tongues glossed over each other, moans reverberated against the walls, electric shocks within their bodies jolted against their muscles and through their veins. Ragged breaths filled Cosima’s lungs as she lowered the both of them onto the mattress, rubbing and sucking until their impending releases filled the air and were devoured by the crackling fire next to them. They fell asleep in each other’s arms, pretending that they were the only two people in the world and no one else mattered.

Footsteps clattered outside of the cabin, waking both women, causing them to furiously grab at their clothing. A knock came from the door and when they’re fully dressed, Delphine cracked the door open.

“Hello, miss. There’s a plane crash site a couple miles north. Do you know anything about that?”

“Oui, that was our plane,” Delphine replied. Cosima walked up and stood beside her.

The man at the door turned to look at his partner standing behind him and they look confused and surprised.

“That’s good news; we’ve been looking for you two.”


	5. Chapter 5

Delphine and Cosima were flown out to Newfoundland and taken to a nearby hospital to get checked out. They stayed for observation and Cosima slept for many hours. She didn’t realize just how tired and worn out she had been – probably malnourished, too.

Cosima’s eyes fluttered open, vision blurred, and through her half-closed eyes, she saw blonde.

“Delphine?”

“No, babe, it’s me.”

“Shay?” Cosima said while trying to sit up, grunting in the process. Shay pushed her back down by her shoulder.

“Don’t move, your body has been through hell. I’m probably going to have to spend the next month working on it,” Shay said with a warm smile. Cosima looked at her, looked into her not-hazel eyes, looked at her not-curly hair. “I thought you were dead. I saw the news story and then Sarah and Mrs. S told me you never showed up,” the blonde said through choked sobs. “And when I got the phone call and they said you were alive, I almost didn’t believe them.” She lay her head across Cosima’s torso, holding onto whatever body parts she could grab. Cosima ran her hand through Shay’s hair comfortingly and when she looked up again, she saw Delphine in the doorway, watching them. Cosima gave her an apologetic smile and waved; Delphine forced a smile and turned around to walk back to her empty room. No one had come to see her and she hadn’t expected anyone to.

“It’s okay, I’m here. I’m alive,” Cosima said, continuing to stroke Shay’s hair. The blonde looked up into Cosima’s eyes and leaned in for a kiss. Cosima kissed her back, but it didn’t feel the same.  Nothing felt the same. Oddly, she missed the drafty cabin and eating canned goods out of an old pot. She missed Delphine.

Sarah, Felix, and Alison all took turns visiting her and when everyone finally went home, Cosima snuck out of her room and walked down the hallway, looking for Delphine’s room. She was a couple doors down, sleeping in the hospital bed. Cosima pulled up a chair next to her bed and brought her hand up to Delphine’s cheek, stroking it affectionately. Delphine stirred and opened her eyes, looking at Cosima and smiling.

“Cosima.”

“Hey,” she answered. “Hospital gown looks good on you.”

Delphine scoffed and sat up. “How are you?”

Cosima shrugged. “Okay, I guess, all things considered. Back to normalcy, whatever that is.” She slowly reached out to hold Delphine’s hand in her own. She laced her fingers between the blonde’s long digits, bringing it up to her lips and kissing the knuckles one by one. Delphine shut her eyes and tried to memorize the feeling of Cosima’s lips on her skin. “I love you,” she whispered, holding Delphine’s hand up to her cheek.

“Cosima, don’t. Please.”

“Tell me you don’t feel the same way. Tell me you don’t love me and I’ll leave you alone.”

Delphine felt her eyes water and lowered her head, shaking it from side to side. A nurse walked into the room and her squeaky shoes stopped a few steps behind Cosima.

“There you are, Ms. Niehaus. You should be in bed. Come along.”

Cosima reluctantly stood up and her eyes didn’t leave Delphine, until she could no longer see her. The nurse put a hand on her shoulder and guided her back to her room, helping her back into bed.

“You two must have developed a strong bond while you were out in the wilderness,” the nurse noted. Cosima could only nod. “Well, that’s nice. You’ll always have someone who understands what you went through out there. Get some rest. Goodnight, Ms. Niehaus.”

Cosima said goodnight to the nurse and stared out the window. Delphine didn’t deny loving Cosima, but she didn’t admit it, either. She sighed and leaned back in the reclined bed, the itchy blankets draped across her body. Tomorrow, she decided, she would force Delphine to admit her feelings for her, or lack thereof. She needed an answer; she needed closure. The beeps and hums from all of the machines lulled her to sleep

In the morning, Cosima hopped out of bed before the nurses made their rounds and strolled over to Delphine’s room. When she got there, Delphine’s bed was empty. She thought that maybe she was in the bathroom or taking a walk, so she sat in the chair and waited. When time kept passing and Delphine was nowhere to be found, Cosima walked out and caught the attention of one of the nurses.

“Excuse me, what happened to the woman who was in this room?”

The nurse looked inside the room. “Ms. Cormier checked herself out this morning.”

“What do you mean she checked herself out? Did she say where she was going? Or leave any messages?”

The nurse shook her head. “Sorry, dear. She didn’t say anything.”

Cosima slunk back to her room, and noticed a familiar black box on the table next to her bed. A handwritten note was attached to it.

_Take an injection once a week. You should be fully cured within a month. Goodbye, Cosima._

Cosima gripped the note in her hands and she felt a stinging pain in her chest. Delphine was gone. She didn’t even say goodbye to her in person. She didn’t love her. When Shay went to visit her later that day, she did her best to act interested in whatever she was saying, but couldn’t concentrate on anything other than the fact that Delphine didn’t love her back. She lied and told Shay that she was getting tired, so she would leave. Shay said she would be back the next day to take her home, since the doctor’s gave her the all clear to leave.

When Sarah and Felix showed up later that evening, they sat next to Cosima’s bed until Sarah commandeered a wheelchair and snuck Cosima outside, so they could walk and she could get fresh air.

“Come on, Cos, what’s up? You haven’t been the same since you got back. I know you went through a lot of shite out there, but we thought you’d be happy to be back,” Sarah said.

“I am happy,” Cosima said unconvincingly.

“What is it then? Don’t tell me you fell for that blonde doctor,” Felix teased. When Cosima didn’t protest, he shot a look at Sarah. “Bloody Christ, you did. What about Shay?”

“What about her?”

“A week ago, you were ready to propose to her in Paris,” Sarah said. “Was that all bullshit?”

Cosima shook her head. “At the time, no. Look, Shay is nice. She’s safe and the sex is great. But we have nothing in common. We’ve only stayed together this long, because we spend basically no time together.”

“Well, she doesn’t deserve this,” Felix argued. Cosima knew he was right. Shay did nothing wrong. She would have to think about what she wanted and whether or not Shay would be able to give it to her. They wheeled her back to her room and they let her rest before she got to leave the next day. Adjusting back to civilization was more difficult than she had anticipated. She found it difficult to get back into writing her dissertation. Everything felt so meaningless. She wanted nothing more than to contact Delphine. She knew that Mrs. S probably could have found her contact information if Cosima asked, but she figured that if Delphine wanted to be contacted, she would have left a phone number back at the hospital.

Months passed and things started going back to normal for Cosima. She met up with Felix, Sarah, and Alison regularly. She had meetings with her advisors regarding her dissertation, which she eventually finished and defended successfully.

Doctor Cosima Niehaus.

Everyone threw her a big party and she couldn’t help but think about what Delphine would say. Would she be proud? Would she tease her for serving baked beans as an appetizer? After mostly everyone had left and after having way too much to drink, Cosima sat down with Felix and Sarah and let out a big sigh.

“I just wish I knew where she was, you know? Is she okay? Is she still in France?”

“Do you want me to have Mrs. S look for her?” Sarah offered.

Cosima shook her head. “No, no. I don’t want to invade her privacy. I just wish she would have left a phone number, or something. I should’ve—”

“Holy shite,” Felix said, interrupting her. “Sorry. Look at this, Cos.” He handed her his phone. Cosima took it and looked at the screen.

_Doctor Delphine Cormier: Host-Parasite Relationships in the Genome, a discussion_

“W-wait, she’s giving a talk here?” She scrolls down the flyer. The seminar was a couple weeks away. “Oh, God, what am I going to say to her? ‘Hey, Delphine. Remember me? We spent a week stuck together in a snowy cabin and had sex before you disappeared after curing my terminal illness. Thanks for that, by the way.’”

“It hasn’t been that long. I doubt much has changed. Just be yourself,” Sarah said.

Cosima scoffed. “Nothing’s changed, huh? Everything is completely different.”

When the day came, Sarah and Felix offered to go with Cosima for moral support, but she told them she’d be okay. She got there early, which was a feat in of itself, and took a seat near the middle of the room. She watched other people start trickling in slowly, filling up the seats around the room. When one of the doors at the front of the room opened, she saw the unmistakable head of golden curls walk through it. Maybe Sarah was right, maybe nothing really changed, besides their clothing. Cosima had only seen her in jeans and sweaters, but now she was wearing heels and a skirt with a nice blouse. It was a far cry from the snow gear and it made Cosima’s palms sweaty and her mouth dry. Cosima smiled when she saw Delphine get her laptop ready and set up to connect with the projector. The blonde hadn’t noticed her yet, but Cosima kept staring, trying to will Delphine to look up. She never did, though. Delphine was too absorbed in her work and getting prepared to look up, possibly too nervous to look at all the eyes staring at her.

Another man walked through the door shortly after. He was tall and balding, wearing slacks and a cardigan. He had a microphone attached to his collar and cleared his throat. He introduced himself as Aldous Leekie and his protégé, Delphine, was there to give a talk on host-parasite relationships. When he gave her the floor, she stepped up and bowed her head while the room applauded. As her eyes slowly scanned the room, they landed on Cosima and her jaw went slack and all of her breath left her lungs. Cosima half-smiled at her and gave a discreet wave. Delphine turned around and opened a bottle of water on the desk behind her, taking a big gulp. Leekie put his hand on the small of her back and whispered something into her ear; Delphine nodded. Cosima watched them closely and the touching made her stomach lurch.

The lecture was fascinating and Delphine was a natural; she was brilliant, captivating, and Cosima was in awe of her. She noticed that Delphine held her gaze longer while she was speaking and wasn’t sure if it was because she was happy she was there, or the opposite. After the lecture was over, people grouped up and began discussions and a small amount of people huddled around Delphine to discuss some of the points she made. Cosima stood on the outer edge and waited patiently, watching Delphine smile and speak about her area of expertise. Slowly, the groups of people started dispersing, until it was only Delphine and Cosima left.

“Hello, Cosima,” Delphine said softly.

“Hey,” Cosima answered. She was fidgeting and couldn’t hold Delphine’s gaze. Clearing her throat, she took a step forward. “So, um, I just wanted to say that I really enjoyed the lecture. It was super informative and you definitely know what you’re talking about. It was kinda hot, actually.”

Delphine laughed and blushed. “Thank you. It is good to see you. I—“

“Delphine,” Leekie interrupted them and walked up next to the blonde. “Who is this?”

“Aldous, this is Cosima Niehaus. She and I were—“

“Ah, the woman from the plane,” he interrupted her again. Cosima was getting irritated on Delphine’s behalf. “I guess I should thank you for looking after my most gifted employee and getting her back to me safely.”

Cosima raised her eyebrow and resisted the urge to gag. “Yep, although, she’s the one who saved my life – multiple times.”

“I see,” Leekie replied. “Well, in any case, I’m glad to see you’re here and healthy. If you’ll excuse us, Delphine and I need to get to a faculty luncheon. I hope you enjoyed the lecture.” He began pulling Delphine away and Cosima started to panic. She was going to lose her again.

Just as they were about to exit the building, Delphine ran back to Cosima and handed her something. “Call me,” she said hurriedly and then left the building behind Leekie.

Cosima opened her hand and a business card with Delphine’s information was on it. She had written her cellphone number across the top and a wide grin spread across Cosima’s face. She rushed home and paced around her apartment. After a while, she sent Delphine a text with the address of a coffee shop to meet her at when she finished with her luncheon. She sent a group text to Sarah and Felix to tell them that she was meeting Delphine for coffee and both of them sent expletives and Felix told her to get her shag on.

About an hour and a half later, Delphine texted Cosima back, saying she was on her way to the coffee shop, so Cosima gathered her things and raced out the door. It took ten minutes for Cosima to arrive and she sat down at a small table in the corner, facing the door. Shortly after she ordered a latte, Delphine walked through the door and Cosima waved her over. The blonde walked in her direction and sat down across from her, as a waitress came over to take her drink order.

Cosima couldn’t stop smiling at Delphine and she was going through all the different ways to start the conversation, finally settling on telling her how good it was to see her.

“You look good,” Cosima said.

 “So do you,” Delphine replied, running a hand through her hair. “How are you? I mean, did the cure work? Well, obviously it did, otherwise you probably wouldn’t be sitting here.”

Cosima nodded, grinning at Delphine’s rambling for a change. “Thanks for that, by the way. I know you probably got into trouble for leaving it with me.”

Delphine shrugged. “It was my cure. I could do whatever I wanted with it. I ended up having another batch sent to France, so it worked out.”

The waitress brought their drinks and Cosima picked up her mug to take a sip. Delphine wrapped her fingers around her glass, but didn’t drink. She looked over at the table next to them and chuckled. Cosima looked at her questioningly.

“What’s funny?”

Delphine gestured toward the bowl of soup. “In the cabin, there were cans of soup that I was saving for a special occasion, but we never got to eat them.”

Cosima smiled. “Well, now we can have soup whenever we want. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to look at baked beans the same again, though.”

Delphine laughed and sipped her coffee. Cosima noticed that Delphine wasn’t wearing the ring she had on before. It was a different ring. She frowned and took another sip from her mug.

“That’s a different ring. Did you… are you…”

Delphine extended her fingers and looked at her hand. “Oh, non. I’m not married. This was my mother’s ring. She gave it to me when I visited her.” She looked at Cosima’s bare finger. “And you? How’s Shay?”

Cosima poked at the edge of her mug and frowned. “We, uh, we broke up. Shortly after I got back.”

“Oh, I am sorry,” Delphine said, furrowing her brow.

Cosima waved her hand dismissively. “Don’t be. It was me, I broke it off. I eventually told her about… you – well, us. She and I never really fit, you know? I think I was with her out of comfort and it wasn’t fair to her. We’re still on good terms, though. We meet up every so often to catch up.” Cosima looked at Delphine’s face as she spoke and saw… relief? “Yeah, so anyway, I’ve been single the past, what, seven or eight months. No one really ever stuck.” She paused and looked down at her nearly empty mug. “But I, um, I never stopped thinking about you.”

Delphine’s face morphed into a look of regret. “I’m sorry for leaving without saying goodbye. It was just too hard seeing you with Shay. I couldn’t stay.”

Cosima looked up at Delphine and smiled sympathetically. “No, I get it. I understand. I mean, back then I didn’t, but I eventually got it. I just wish you would have at least left me an address, so I could send you a thank you card, or something. ‘Thanks for saving my life three times. Have a nice summer. Keep in touch.’”

Delphine chuckled and traced the rim of her cup and tucked the corner of her lip between her teeth. “I never stopped thinking about you, either.”

Cosima smiled. “Really?”

Delphine nodded. “I always wondered what you were up to, if you had finished your dissertation, if you were married yet, if the cure had worked.”

Cosima held up her hand, showing her bare finger. “Well, we already went over the not married thing and the cure thing. I did finish my dissertation, so you’re no longer the only doctor in these parts,” she said, smirking.

Delphine laughed. “Congratulations, Doctor MacGuyver. I am proud of you.” Cosima ducked her head and smiled sheepishly. “So, what’s next for you? Are you looking for work? Teaching?”

Cosima shrugged. “I’m just kind of going with the flow. I’ll look into research positions, or whatever, but I’m not opposed to teaching if that ends up happening.”

Delphine hummed. “I can probably put in a good word for you at my work. Doctor Leekie is always looking for capable people.”

Cosima made a sour face. “The guy who had his hands all over you at the lecture? I don’t know.”

“I didn’t take you for the jealous type,” Delphine said, with an amused look on her face.

“Oh, this isn’t jealousy. This is ‘old dudes think they rule the earth and can do whatever they want to whomever they want.’ But, if you’re into that kind of thing, I’m not going to judge. I’m sure his mind is sexy.”

Delphine snorted and shook her head. “I am not ‘into’ Doctor Leekie. Ever since Maddie died, I hadn’t really been into anyone – until you, that is, and you were with Shay, so of course I took that as a sign that it wasn’t meant to be. Do you remember my take on just letting things happen? Things I can’t control?” Cosima nodded. “I was wrong. I shouldn’t have just let you go so easily. I shouldn’t have left. I should have tried to take control of my life.”

“My goodness, Doctor Cormier, that’s the second time you’ve been wrong since you’ve known me. You’re losing your touch.” They smiled at each other and Cosima reached her hand across the table, waiting for Delphine to take it. When she did, Cosima rubbed her thumb across her knuckles, tracing each bump and divot. She studied Delphine’s face, the way her brow scrunched when she was thinking, the way she tugged on her bottom lip, the way her color in eyes burst whenever she talked about something she was interested in. She could do this. She could let Delphine be her sunlight, warming her cold, numb hands, warming her heart in the dead of winter. It wasn’t like it was a foreign feeling. Delphine had already done so back in the cabin, when there was no hope left, when Cosima didn’t know whether or not she would die there.

She held onto Delphine’s hand, feeling its warmth, knowing that no one would ever fully understand what the both of them had been through after the plane crash – the hopeless feeling in the pits of their stomach, unsure if they would starve to death first, or if the cold would overtake them. Shay didn’t understand, _couldn’t_ understand. Sarah and Felix tried, but they fell short, as well. Cosima only had Delphine, the same Delphine who pulled her out of the icy water and kept her warm, the same Delphine who carried her back to the cabin after she had collapsed, the same Delphine who stopped her body from caving in on itself.

She looked into Delphine’s eyes and it felt like she was taking a deep breath, like she had just been submerged in ice cold water again and Delphine’s gaze was her fire. She knew that she was safe with Delphine. This wasn’t her fulfilling some predisposed societal expectations, not doing what was expected of her. She was allowing herself to be open, to be scared, because she knew that whatever she faced, Delphine would be there to save her.

 

 

 _“You're whispers and sunlight / Cold hands feeling for mine / Warm love, softly / Never letting love go.”_ flor – “warm blood”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who's read this story, given kudos, or commented. I really, truly, appreciate it.


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